Wimbledon Residents Seek Probe Of Incident

May 16, 1985|By Kimberly Lifton, Staff Writer

LAUDERHILL — A group of residents from Wimbledon Phase II Townhouses who say firefighters took too long to douse a May 2 fire at their complex have asked Mayor David Kaminsky to conduct an investigation.

Wimbledon manager Angela Fiore sent a letter to Kaminsky Thursday, after a meeting this week where several witnesses claimed it took firefighters about 35 minutes to respond.

According to reports, four people escaped injury in the fire that gutted a townhouse at 1711 NW 56th Ave. An 8-year-old boy alerted his mother, and two other household members, to the fire.

The family was rescued by a ladder truck and treated for smoke inhalation. Firemen evacuated eight families from adjoining units, fire officials said.

``We certainly would like to know something like this won`t happen again where someone could seriously be injured,`` Fiore said.

Kaminsky said he would not comment until he receives the letter.

Fire Chief Mike Cooper said the time between the 911 call, which was reported about 6:30 p.m., and the time the fire trucks hooked up to two fire hydrants was about three minutes and 53 seconds.

In the letter, the residents also claim a fire hydrant, 25 feet from the complex, was inoperable and that the Fire Department was inefficient in putting out the blaze.

Cooper said the hydrant was operable and used along with another fire hydrant.

``It is beyond my imagination that we possibly could take 35 minutes to get there,`` Cooper said. The fire station is two blocks from the townhouse complex. You can get a truck there from Miami in that time.

``Four people are alive today because we didn`t know what we were doing,`` Cooper said sarcastically. Officials said the blaze apparently started in the kitchen. The occupants had just moved from New York into the complex and have since returned to New York, Fiore said.

In another complaint against the Fire Department, a resident of the Habitat II Townhouse project in Lauderhill filed a complaint last week with the State Attorney`s Office, claiming firefighters filed false reports regarding a townhouse fire in February.

The resident, Larry Paull, has cited discrepancies between witness accounts of the fire and official reports.

Kaminsky reviewed complaints of Habitat II residents, but cleared city firefighters of mishandling that fire.